No abstract

In the development of the foetal immune system, cytokines play an important role in its function. Therefore, we sought to determine whether the mode of delivery affects the expression of leptin, IL-6 and TNF-α in umbilical cord blood in healthy term newborns. We collected 125 samples of umbilical cord blood to analyse leptin, IL-6 y TNF-α levels with multiplex immunoassay (MIA). The samples were classified according to mode of delivery: vaginal delivery (VD) and caesarean section (CS). Leptin and IL-6 had higher concentrations in umbilical cord blood in VD than in CS: 42.55 ng/ml (11.92-104.28) versus 35.20 ng/ml (3.26-9326.76), p  =  0.039; 9.32 pg/ml (1.13-2020.31) versus 3.81 pg/ml (0.52-834.69) p < 0.001, respectively. Also, a weak correlation between TNF-α and IL-6 was found (r = 0.238, p = 0.007). The most important finding in our study was the differential concentrations of leptin and IL-6 according to mode of delivery.

As shown by the Bland-Altman plot, there is concordance by both methods, but with a weak correlation.

Objective:Most adipose tissue programming is realized in early life. Also, the postnatal three months, rather than the later phases of infancy, may be more relevant in the development of an adverse cardiometabolic risk profile. The adipokines phenotype, as a predictor of early-life weight gain, has been recently explored in cord blood. To determine whether in addition to leptin levels in cord samples, adiponectin, interleukin-6 (IL-6), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), resistin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) levels improve weight gain prediction during the first three months of life.Methods:Adiponectin, IL-6, MCP-1, leptin, resistin, PAI-1, and TNF-α were measured by multiplex immunoassay in a subsample of 86 healthy term newborns.Results:Leptin levels significantly predicted weight gain at 3 months of follow-up (r2=0.09, p=0.006). In the multivariate analysis, including additional adipokines in the model, stepwise or all at once, did not increase the prediction of weight gain after the first three months of life.Conclusion:Adding adiponectin, IL-6, MCP-1, resistin, PAI-1, and TNF-α to the prediction model of weight gain in healthy newborns did not prove to be useful. It is probable that their relative contribution to weight gain is not important. Only leptin was relevant as a predictor of weight gain at the 3-month endpoint.